Friday, February 29, 2008

Detective Comics #58 (1st Appearance of the Penguin)Definitely a milestone issue in DC Comics. It's the first appearance of Batman's popular foe, the Penguin. Yup, he was running around with that top hat, monocle, and umbrella even back in the Golden Age. Detective Comics is currently on issue #842. Not bad. An issue of Detective may not cost 10 cents anymore, but that Batman dude is still kickin' criminals around in Gotham City.

Sensational She-Hulk #1For some reason She-Hulk always has a tough time selling issues. In 1989, she was given a shot at this second series after the Savage She-Hulk had been canceled back in 1982. Actually this series lasted a lot longer than Savage. It probably had a little to do with former X-Men & Fantastic Four artist John Byrne penciling and writing this series for the first 8 issues. Byrne still had some of his X-Men mojo left while penciling these issues, so it's well worth checking them out. Imagine Jean Grey with green skin. She-Hulk can be seen on your comic book store shelves today in She-Hulk #26.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Action Comics #19The most valuable comic book in the world is Action Comics #1. You might want to check this issue out with that Superman guy being the star character of this series. Classic Golden Age material brought to you by creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Angela #3It's the final issue to the original Angela mini-series. It's a satisfying conclusion with excellent work by Capullo and Gaiman. Usually artists can't meet deadlines and end up being replaced for the final issue, but Capullo brings his "A" game and even designs a new Angela costume. Look for Angela to be back here in individual issues of Spawn.

Ever wanted to buy some original comic book artwork? I came across this website called ComicCon Art the other day and they have an impressive collection for sale. Artists like Ed Benes, Leinil Francis Yu, and some amazing talent are selling original artwork like this Miss Marvel drawing. Not only can you buy art from the galleries, but you can hire most of the artists to draw specific characters for you. Even if you're not buying anything, it's worth browsing through all the photos.

Friday, February 22, 2008

Tales of Suspense #41 (Second Gold Iron Man)Last issue, Tony Stark made a modification to his armor: he painted it gold. So this is actually the first entire issue where Iron Man is "gold." You can never satisfy Stark. He continues to make little to huge changes to his costume throughout this groundbreaking series.

Ghost Rider v1 #3Remember when Ghost Rider rode a horse instead of a motorcycle? I don't either. Well, maybe in the movie. Before Ghost Rider was bought by Stan Lee and Marvel Comics, the character originated from the old west. Yup, Ghost Rider was a cowboy and looked nothing like the version that we know today. This issue is from 1951.

Captain America continues to bash Nazi skulls in this early issue from his original series drawn by Jack "The King" Kirby. This issue contains the stories "Meet the Fang," "The Strange Case of Captain America and the Hangman" and "Captain America Battles the Camera Fiend." Must be the paparazzi. Time for a shield slam! The great thing about these pages is that they look brighter and sharper than they did when this issue first hit the newsstands in 1941. Enjoy! Bauer out.Captain America v1 Issue #6

Friday, February 08, 2008

Captain Marvel #5It's been a while since I've posted Captain Marvel issue. This issue is from December 12, 1941. It's only fitting that Marvel is tearing up a Nazi airplane on this cover. Captain Marvel was the top selling comic book character of the 1940s, outselling even Superman. DC Comics forced Fawcett Comics to give them all their characters after a long court battle. DC claimed that Captain Marvel was a rip off of Superman. Um, whatever. They never looked the same, acted the same, were drawn stylistically the same... I guess if you were totally drunk you might think they were brothers or even sisters for that matter. Let's pour the judge another round of drinks.

W.I.L.D.C.A.T.S./ X-Men: Silver Age #1 (Repost)Jim Lee pencils the X-Men and Wildcats in this issue. It was the long awaited return of Lee penciling characters from series he had drawn in the past. And the really cool thing about it all is that Lee had grown into a much more talented penciler since he originally drew both of these superhero teams. It would have been sweet to see Lee draw Wolverine, Gambit, or Rogue again, but this issue focuses on the X-Men's original Silver Age team.

Flash Comics #30Here's a high-quality scan of one of the early issues of the original Flash. Before Wally West or Barry Allen, there was Jay Garrick. Garrick's Flash series lasted only from 1940-1949. This series ended at issue #104. It's very odd that the Barry Allen Flash series began with #105, when there hadn't been any Flash comics for basically ten years. Green Lantern returned after an 11 year absence and Hal Jordan's GL was given an issue #1. I guess DC Comics learned that issue #1's sell more. If DC had used the same numbering philosophy that they did with the Flash, the 1960 Green Lantern series would have begun with #39. And that would have been really lame.

Angela #2Angela is on trial for breaking the rules in this issue. It's not your average trial if that's what you're thinking. And don't Angela and Spawn make the cutest badass couple? Stunning artwork as usual by Greg Capullo. Written by Neil Gaiman.